The 302nd Rifle Division began service as a specialized Red Army mountain rifle division, which saw service in the disastrous operations in the Crimea in early 1942. It was later converted to serve for the balance of the war as a standard rifle division; the division played a leading role in the 51st Army's breakthrough south of Stalingrad in the opening stages of Operation Uranus, and then in the exploitation following this success; however, it was badly battered and routed in the initial stage of the German Operation Winter Storm. After recovering from this, the division continued to turn in a creditable record of service in the southern sectors of the Soviet-German front for the duration, and was especially recognized for its role in the liberation of the city of Ternopol, for which it received that city's name as an honorific.

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The division originally began forming on July 18, 1941 at Krasnodar in the North Caucasus Military District as a mountain rifle division with a specialized order of battle featuring rifle regiments made up of oversized companies (no battalion structure), with supporting arms, capable of independent operations in difficult terrain and backed by light and mobile mountain artillery,[1] its order of battle was as follows:

Col. Mikhail Konstantinovich Zubkov was assigned as commanding officer on the day the division began forming. Note that as a mountain rifle division it had one more rifle regiment than a standard rifle division; the 302nd was the only mountain rifle division formed from reservists in the early months of the war, and spent until November forming up, an unusually long time in this period of crisis, probably due to lack of specialized training and/or equipment. Its reconnaissance unit included some BT-5 and T-26 light tanks which implies, at least, that it was being equipped with what was available rather than what was authorized.

In November it was assigned to the 51st Army, and saw its first action at the very end of the year. On December 26, elements of the division made opposed amphibious landings from improvised landing craft at Kamysh Burun and at Eltigen south of the town of Kerch on the eastern tip of the Crimea. In spite of heavy German fire, a foothold of 2,175 troops was established at the former port, although the latter attempt was repulsed. A second wave of Soviet landings took place farther west on December 29, and the city of Feodosiya was liberated by units of the 44th Army. Following this, the German corps commander ordered his 46th Infantry Division to retreat from the Kerch peninsula without orders from above; as a result, the 302nd was able to liberate Kerch on December 31.[3]

On January 15, 1942, General von Manstein launched a counter-offensive to try to retake Feyodosiya. Over the next five days, the 44th Army was defeated and forced to retreat to the Parpach Narrows. Despite the 302nd managing to repulse an attack on the road and rail hub of Vladislavovka on the 19th, the 51st Army was forced to fall back as well; the German attack subsided as the shorter line was reached, allowing the Soviets to free up reserves.[4] During the lull on this front over the following months, the division went into reserve and was reorganized as a standard rifle division on March 31.[5]

Shortly after this conversion process was complete, on May 8 Manstein's Eleventh Army began its attack into the Kerch peninsula; the 302nd escaped relatively intact, evacuating to the North Caucasus, still in what remained of the 44th Army in the North Caucasus Front. In July the division was sent north, and rejoined the 51st Army, now in the Stalingrad Front.[7] On August 9, Colonel Zubkov was replaced in command by Col. Aleksei Fyodorovich Amenev, but this officer in turn was replaced by Col. Yefrem Fedosievich Makarchuk one month later.

When Stalingrad Front launched the southern offensive of Operation Uranus on November 20, the 302nd was one of the assault divisions that broke open the defending Romanian 6th Corps and supporting German elements, alongside the 126th Rifle Division; the two divisions were supported by the 254th Tank Brigade when the attack launched at 0845 hours, facing strong resistance from several Romanian strong points. Shortly after the initial assault the 4th Mechanized Corps (Soviet Union) sent its 55th and 158th Tank Regiments to reinforce the rifle divisions and accelerate the advance; the two tank regiments advanced through the 302nd, blasting through the Romanian defenses with ease, and advancing up to 10km by 1300 hours. Further advances allowed the 13th Mechanized Corps to break into the clear and complete the encirclement of the German 6th Army.[8]

On December 12, the division was helping to man a thin line across the steppes when the German Army Group Don launched its effort to relieve and rescue the trapped 6th Army, called Operation Winter Storm; the 302nd's main position at Nebykov came under attack from the 23rd Panzer Division, which captured the village at 1335 hours; the Germans reported that the division had fled northeast with about 3,000 men, leaving behind many dead, 250 prisoners, and a good deal of weapons and equipment. Its headquarters was captured, and its deputy commander for political affairs, Lt. Col. P. P. Medvedev, was killed by an antitank grenade; the remnants of the 302nd reorganized over the coming days along the right flank of the German thrust, which aimed at Verkhne-Kumskii, beyond the Aksai River.[9]

Later in December, while continuing the push towards Rostov-na-Donu and the Donbass, the division, along with the rest of the 51st Army, were transferred to the South Front, remaining there until July, 1943.[10] On January 12, 1943, Colonel Makarchuk was mortally wounded in a German airstrike; he was replaced by Col. Victor Fyodorovich Stenshinskiy who had been serving in the headquarters of Southern Front; the following day 51st Army issued a combat report which gave the division's status as follows:

302nd RD's strength is 280 [riflemen and sappers], 12 76mm guns, 2 45mm guns, 9 82mm mortars, 2 120mm mortars, and 5 DShKs. 825th RR, fighting in the center of Uspenskii, and 827th RR, fighting for Privolnyi, were counterattacked by 18 enemy tanks and infantry from Ukrainskii. The attack was repelled with three tanks destroyed and one burned.

The remaining rifle divisions in the Army are shown in this report as even lower in terms of riflemen and sappers.[11] Colonel Stenshinskiy was in turn replaced in command by Col. Aleksei Pavlovich Rodionov on February 2.

At the end of 1943 the division was once more in the Reserve of the Supreme High Command, now moving north to an assignment with the 47th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front, it would remain in this Front until just before the end of the war. By the beginning of March, 1944, the 302nd was assigned to the 106th Rifle Corps of the 60th Army. During the final stage of the Battle of the Kamenets-Podolsky pocket, on April 15, the men and women of the division distinguished themselves in the liberation of Ternopol, for which they received the name of that city as an honorific:

"TERNOPOL"... 302 Rifle Division (Colonel Nikolai Panteleimonovich Kucherenko)... The troops who participated in the liberation of Ternopol, by the order of the Supreme High Command of 15 April 1944, and a commendation in Moscow, are given a salute of 20 artillery salvos from 224 guns."[13]

Colonel Kucherenko was also awarded the Order of the Red Banner for "his able leadership and personal courage" in the course of this action.[14]

In July the division was moved to the 28th Rifle Corps, still in the 60th Army where it remained for the duration of the war. On August 10 the division was recognized for its role in the liberation of Lviv with the award of the Order of the Red Banner.[15] In the final weeks of the war 60th Army was moved to the 4th Ukrainian Front, fighting its way through eastern Czechoslovakia. On March 30, 1945, Colonel Kucherenko was killed in action by enemy artillery in the fighting along the Oder River south of Wrocław, and was subsequently named a Hero of the Soviet Union,[16] he was succeeded in command by his deputy commander, Lt. Col. Pyotr Dmitrievich Gorodnii for two weeks, then by Col. Aleksandr Yakovlevich Klimenko for the final month of hostilities. On April 26 the division was further distinguished for its role in fighting near Oppeln with the award of the Order of Kutuzov, 2nd degree.[17]

The 302nd Rifle Division finished the war near Prague, as a separate division in the 60th Army, carrying the full title of 302nd Rifle, Ternopol, Order of the Red Banner, Order of Kutuzov Division. (Russian: 302-я стрелковая Тернопольская Краснознамённая ордена Кутузова дивизия.)[18] The division was disbanded "in place" with the Northern Group of Forces during the summer of 1945.[19]

The Battle of Stalingrad was the largest confrontation of World War II, in which Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in Southern Russia. Marked by fierce close quarters combat and direct assaults on civilians in air raids, it was the largest and bloodiest battle in the history of warfare. After their defeat at Stalingrad, the German High Command had to withdraw vast military forces from the Western Front to replace their losses; the German offensive to capture Stalingrad began in August 1942, using the 6th Army and elements of the 4th Panzer Army. The attack was supported by intensive Luftwaffe bombing; the fighting degenerated into house-to-house fighting. By mid-November 1942, the Germans had pushed the Soviet defenders back at great cost into narrow zones along the west bank of the Volga River. On 19 November 1942, the Red Army launched Operation Uranus, a two-pronged attack targeting the weaker Romanian and Hungarian armies protecting the German 6th Army's flanks.

The Axis forces on the flanks were overrun and the 6th Army was cut off and surrounded in the Stalingrad area. Adolf Hitler ordered that the army make no attempt to break out. Heavy fighting continued for another two months. By the beginning of February 1943, the Axis forces in Stalingrad had exhausted their ammunition and food; the remaining units of the 6th Army surrendered. The battle lasted one week and three days. By the spring of 1942, despite the failure of Operation Barbarossa to decisively defeat the Soviet Union in a single campaign, the Wehrmacht had captured vast expanses of territory, including Ukraine and the Baltic republics. Elsewhere, the war had been progressing well: the U-boat offensive in the Atlantic had been successful and Erwin Rommel had just captured Tobruk. In the east, they had stabilized their front in a line running from Leningrad in the north to Rostov in the south. There were a number of salients, but these were not threatening. Hitler was confident that he could master the Red Army after the winter of 1942, because though Army Group Centre had suffered heavy losses west of Moscow the previous winter, 65% of its infantry had not been engaged and had been rested and re-equipped.

Neither Army Group North nor Army Group South had been hard pressed over the winter. Stalin was expecting the main thrust of the German summer attacks to be directed against Moscow again. With the initial operations being successful, the Germans decided that their summer campaign in 1942 would be directed at the southern parts of the Soviet Union; the initial objectives in the region around Stalingrad were the destruction of the industrial capacity of the city and the deployment of forces to block the Volga River. The river was the Caspian Sea to central Russia, its capture would disrupt commercial river traffic. The Germans cut the pipeline from the oilfields; the capture of Stalingrad would make the delivery of Lend Lease supplies via the Persian Corridor much more difficult. On 23 July 1942, Hitler rewrote the operational objectives for the 1942 campaign expanding them to include the occupation of the city of Stalingrad. Both sides began to attach propaganda value to the city, based on it bearing the name of the leader of the Soviet Union.

Hitler proclaimed that after Stalingrad's capture, its male citizens were to be killed and all women and children were to be deported because its population was "thoroughly communistic" and "especially dangerous". It was assumed that the fall of the city would firmly secure the northern and western flanks of the German armies as they advanced on Baku, with the aim of securing these strategic petroleum resources for Germany; the expansion of objectives was a significant factor in Germany's failure at Stalingrad, caused by German overconfidence and an underestimation of Soviet reserves. The Soviets realized, they ordered that anyone strong enough to hold a rifle be sent to fight. If I do not get the oil of Maikop and Grozny I must finish this war. Army Group South was selected for a sprint forward through the southern Russian steppes into the Caucasus to capture the vital Soviet oil fields there; the planned summer offensive, code-named Fall Blau, was to include the German 6th, 17th, 4th Panzer and 1st Panzer Armies.

Army Group South had overrun the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1941. Poised in Eastern Ukraine, it was to spearhead the offensive. Hitler intervened, ordering the Army Group to split in two. Army Group South, under the command of Wilhelm List, was to continue advancing south towards the Caucasus as planned with the 17th Army and First Panzer Army. Army Group South, including Friedrich Paulus's 6th Army and Hermann Hoth's 4th Panzer Army, was to move east towards the Volga and Stalingrad. Army Group B was commanded by Field MarshalFedor von Bock and by General Maximilian von Weichs; the start of Case Blue had been planned for late May 1942. However, a number of German and Romanian units that were to take part in Blau were besieging Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula. Delays in ending the siege pushed back the start date for Blau several times, the city did not fall until early July. Operation Fridericus I by the Germans against the "Isium bulge", pinched off the Soviet

Feodosia called Theodosia, is a port and resort, a town of regional significance in Crimea on the Black Sea coast. Feodosia serves as the administrative center of Feodosia Municipality, one of the regions into which Crimea is divided. During much of its history the city was known as Kaffa. Population: 69,145; the city was founded as Theodosia by Greek colonists from Miletos in the 6th century BC. Noted for its rich agricultural lands, on which its trade depended, it was destroyed by the Huns in the 4th century AD. Theodosia remained a minor village for much of the next nine hundred years, it was of the Byzantine Empire. Like the rest of Crimea, this place fell under the domination of the Kipchaks and was conquered by the Mongols in the 1230s. In the late 13th century, traders from the Republic of Genoa arrived and purchased the city from the ruling Golden Horde, they established a flourishing trading settlement called Kaffa, which monopolized trade in the Black Sea region and served as a major port and administrative center for the Genoese settlements around the Sea.

It came to house one of Europe's biggest slave markets. From 1266 and on, Kaffa was governed by a Genoese consul, who since 1316 was in charge of all Genoese Black Sea colonies. Between 1204–1261 and again in 1296–1307, the city of Kaffa was ruled by Republic of Genoa's chief rival, the Republic of Venice. Ibn Battuta visited the city, noting it was a "great city along the sea coast inhabited by Christians, most of them Genoese." He further stated, "We went down to its port, where we saw a wonderful harbor with about two hundred vessels in it, both ships of war and trading vessels and large, for it is one of the world's celebrated ports."In early 1318 Pope John XXII established a Latin Church diocese of Kaffa, as a suffragan of Genoa. The papal bull of appointment of the first bishop attributed to him a vast territory: "a villa de Varna in Bulgaria usque Sarey inclusive in longitudinem et a mari Pontico usque ad terram Ruthenorum in latitudinem"; the first bishop was Fra' Gerolamo, consecrated seven years before as a missionary bishop ad partes Tartarorum.

The diocese ended as a residential bishopric with the capture of the city by the Ottomans in 1475. Accordingly, Kaffa is today listed by the Catholic Church, it is believed that the devastating pandemic the Black Death entered Europe for the first time via Kaffa in 1347, through the movements of the Golden Horde. After a protracted siege during which the Mongol army under Janibeg was withering from the disease, they catapulted the infected corpses over the city walls, infecting the inhabitants, in one of the first cases of biological warfare. Fleeing inhabitants may have carried the disease back to Italy. However, the plague appears to have spread in a stepwise fashion, taking over a year to reach Europe from Crimea. There were a number of Crimean ports under Mongol control, so it is unlikely that Kaffa was the only source of plague-infested ships heading to Europe. Additionally, there were overland caravan routes from the East that would have been carrying the disease into Europe as well. Kaffa recovered.

The thriving, culturally diverse city and its thronged slave market have been described by the Spanish traveler Pedro Tafur, there in the 1430s. In 1462 Caffa placed itself under the protection of King Casimir IV of Poland. However, Poland did not offer significant help due to reinforcements sent being massacred in Bar fortress by Duke Czartoryski after quarrel with locals. Following the fall of Constantinople and lastly Trebizond, the position of Caffa had become untenable and attracted the attention of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, he was at no loss for a pretext to extinguish this last Genoese colony on the Black sea. In 1473, the tudun of the Crimean Khanate died and a fight developed over the appointment of his successor; the Genoese involved themselves in the dispute, the Tatar notables who favored the losing candidate asked Mehmed to settle the dispute. Mehmed dispatched a fleet under the Ottoman commander Gedik Ahmet Pasha, which left Constantinople 19 May 1475, it anchored before the walls of the city on 1 June, started the bombardment the next day, on 6 June the inhabitants capitulated.

Over the next few days the Ottomans proceeded to extract the wealth of the inhabitants, abduct 1,500 youths for service in the Sultan's palace. On 8 July the final blow was struck when all inhabitants of Latin origin were ordered to relocate to Istanbul, where they founded a quarter, named after the town they had been forced to leave. Renamed Kefe, Caffa became one of the most important Turkish ports on the Black Sea. In 1615 Zaporozhian Cossacks under the leadership of Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny destroyed the Turkish fleet and captured Caffa. Having conquered the city, the cossacks released the men and children who were slaves. Ottoman control ceased when the expanding Russian Empire took over Crimea between 1774 and 1783, it was renamed Feodosiya, after the traditional Russian reading of the ancient Greek name. In 1900 Zibold constructed the first air well on mount Tepe-Oba near Feodosiya; the city was occupied by the forces of Nazi Germany during World

The Order of the Red Banner was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, it was the highest award of Soviet Russia, subsequently the Soviet Union, until the Order of Lenin was established in 1930. Recipients were recognised for extraordinary heroism and courage demonstrated on the battlefield; the Order was awarded to individuals as well as to military units, ships and social organizations, state enterprises. In years, it was awarded on the twentieth and again on the thirtieth anniversary of military, police, or state security service without requiring participation in combat; the Russian Order of the Red Banner was established during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of September 16, 1918. The first recipient was Vasily Blyukher on September 28, 1918; the second recipient was Iona Yakir. During the Civil War, there existed named orders and decorations established by the Soviet communist governments of several other constituent and nonconstituent republics.

The August 1, 1924, decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee established the all-Soviet Order of the Red Banner for deserving personnel of the Red Army. Other nonmilitary awards used the phrase "Order of the Red Banner" in their title. From 1918 till the late 1930s there was a Soviet collective variant - the Revolutionary Red Banner of Honor; this was in the form of a special military color awarded to distinguished Red Army, Soviet Air Force, Soviet Navy units. It was older than the Order of the Red Banner, having been established on August 3, 1918, a month and several weeks before; as a military decoration, the Order of the Red Banner recognised heroism in combat or otherwise extraordinary accomplishments of military valour during combat operations. Before the establishment of the Order of Lenin on April 5, 1930, the Order of the Red Banner functioned as the highest military order of the USSR. During World War II, under various titles, it was presented to both individuals and military units for acts of extreme military heroism.

In some ways, the Order of the Red Banner was more prestigious, as it could only be awarded for bravery during combat operations whereas the Order of Lenin was sometimes awarded to non-military personnel and political leaders. Nearly all well-known Soviet commanders became recipients of the Order of the Red Banner; when the Order was awarded to whole formations, the prefix "Red Banner" was added to their official designations. Naval vessels flew a special ensign; the Order of the Red Banner was used as a "long service award" between 1944 and 1958 to mark twenty and thirty years of service in the military, state security, or police. Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of September 14, 1957, emphasised the devaluation of certain Soviet high military Orders used as long service awards instead of their intended criteria; this led to the joint January 25, 1958, decree of the Ministers of Defence, of Internal Affairs, of the Chairman of the Committee on State Security of the USSR establishing the Medal "For Impeccable Service," putting an end to the practice of awarding long service variants of the Order of the Red Banner.

The Order consisted of a white-enamelled badge, which had a golden Hammer and Sickle badge surrounded by two golden panicles of wheat on a Red Star, backed by crossed hammer, torch, a red flag bearing the motto Proletarians of the World, Unite!. The whole was surrounded by two golden panicles of wheat. Additional awards of the Order bore a white enamelled shield with a silver sequence number at the bottom of the obverse. A recipient of multiple Orders of the Red Banner would wear a basic badge of the Order with a numeral corresponding to the sequence of the award on a cartouche over the wheat at the bottom of the badge; the early variants of the Order were screw back badges to allow wear on clothing. Variants hung from a standard Soviet pentagonal mount with a ring through the suspension loop; the mount was covered with an overlapping 24mm wide red silk moiré ribbon with 1.5mm wide white edge stripes and a 7mm wide white central stripe. The Order of the Red Banner was worn on the left side of the chest and when in the presence of other Orders and medals of the USSR, was placed after the Order of the October Revolution.

The Battle of the Kamenets-Podolsky pocket was part of a greater Soviet "Proskurov-Chernovtsy Operation", whose key goal was to envelop the Wehrmacht's 1st Panzer Army of Army Group South. The envelopment occurred in March 1944 on the Eastern Front during the Second World War; the Red Army created a pocket, trapping some 220,000 German soldiers inside. Under the command of General Hans-Valentin Hube and with the direction of Field MarshalErich von Manstein, the majority of German forces in the pocket were able to fight their way out by mid-April in coordination with the German relief forces led by the 2nd SS Panzer Corps, transferred from France with just months before the Allied D-Day landings. While the majority of the 1st Panzer Army was rescued, it came at the cost of losing the entire heavy equipment and a significant territory while many divisions ended up being shattered formations, which required thorough refitting; this Soviet offensive and the ongoing crisis had absorbed all German strategic reserves that could otherwise be used to repel the future Allied D-Day landings or Soviet Operation Bagration.

All told, 9 infantry and 2 panzer divisions, 1 heavy panzer battalion and 2 assault gun brigades with a total strength of 127,496 troops and 363 tanks/assault guns were transferred from across France, Denmark, Balkans to the Ukraine between March-April 1944. In total, the German forces stationed in France were deprived of a total of 45,827 troops and 363 tanks, assault guns, self-propelled anti-tank guns on 6 June 1944. Although the Soviets were unable to destroy the 1st Panzer Army, they did achieve major operational goals. With the Soviet 1st Tank Army crossing the Dniester river and reaching Chernovtsy near the Carpathian Mountains, the 1st Panzer Army's links with the 8th Army in the south had been cut off; as a result, Army Group South was split into two- north and south of Carpathians. The northern portion was renamed to Army Group North Ukraine, while the southern portion to Army Group South Ukraine, effective from 5 April 1944, although little of Ukraine remained in German hands. For the Wehrmacht defeat, the commander of Army Group South Erich von Manstein was dismissed by Hitler and replaced by Walther Model.

As a result of this split, the Soviets had cut the main supply lifeline of Army Group South- the Lvov-Odessa railway. Now, the southern group of German forces would have to use the long roundabout route through the Balkans, with all of the supplies being rerouted over the Romanian railroads, which were in poor condition. In February 1944, the 1st Panzer Army—commanded by Generaloberst Hans-Valentin Hube—consisted of four Corps, three of which were Panzer Corps. Together with three attached Fourth Panzer Army division, rear service units, Organization Todt personnel, police and assorted forces the 1st Panzer Army included 220,000 men but only 43 operational tanks and 50 assault guns, it was the most powerful formation of Field Marshal Erich von Manstein's Army Group South. The formation's III Panzer Corps had fought extensively in operations to thwart an earlier Soviet attempt to trap and destroy two corps in the Battle of the Korsun-Cherkassy Pocket,Realizing the significance of the 1st Panzer Army, Soviet MarshalGeorgi Zhukov began planning to bring about its destruction with hopes of creating a collapse of the entire South-Eastern Front.

Zhukov planned a multi-Front offensive, involving his own 1st and Marshal Ivan Konev's2nd Ukrainian Front. This force of over eleven armies, including two air armies, was to attempt to outflank and encircle Hube's Army, and, in a repeat of the Battle of Stalingrad, reduce the resulting pocket until all troops in it have surrendered; the operations were to take place on the extreme south of the Army Group South's front. Manstein was informed of large troop movements all across Hube's front and was aware of an impending operation, with Adolf Hitler's refusal to allow strategic withdrawals, there was little he could do; the Soviet offensives began in early March, with Zhukov taking personal command of Vatutin's 1st Ukrainian front. The Red Army's massive concentration in troops and material forced Hube to withdraw his northern flank to south-west until it reached the Dniester river. Despite constant Red Army attacks, this position held until late March. Five Soviet Tank Corps of the 1st and 4th Tank Armies and the 3rd Guards Tank Army penetrated the extreme northern flank of Hube's position east of Ternopil and turned south, advancing behind the 1st Army along the corridor between the Zbruch and Seret rivers.

The force continued toward Chernivtsi. Behind them followed infantry and antitank units which began establishing defensive positions along the path of the advance behind the German positions. With the Soviet advance along the southern flank near the Dniester, the recent Soviet attacks to the north and west and now southwest, the 1st Panzer Army was confined to a salient with a supply line, tenuous. Manstein requested that the position be withdrawn to avoid encirclement, but Hitler refused, persisting with his "no retreat" orders. Hube ordered all non-combat personnel out of the salient along the last remaining open roadway. Seeing this movement to the south Zhukov concluded that Hube was in full retreat. In a matter of days and Konev's forces had crossed the Dniester and were in position to complete the encirclement. On 25 March, the last line of communications corridor out of Hube's bridgehead located on the northern bank of the Dniester was severed at Khotyn; the entire 1st Panzer Army was now encircled in a pocket centered around the city of Kamiane

Kerch is a city of regional significance on the Kerch Peninsula in the east of the Crimea. Population: 147,033. Founded 2,600 years ago as an ancient Greek colony, Kerch is considered to be one of the most ancient cities in Crimea; the city experienced rapid growth starting in the 1920s and was the site of a major battle during World War II. Today, it is one of the largest cities in Crimea and is among the republic's most important industrial and tourist centres. Archeological digs at Mayak village near the city ascertained that the area had been inhabited in 17th–15th centuries BC. Kerch as a city starts its history in 7th century BC, when Greek colonists from Miletus founded a city-state named Panticapaeum on Mount Mithridat near the mouth of the Melek-Chesme river. Panticapaeum subdued nearby cities and by 480 BC became a capital of the Kingdom of Bosporus. During the rule of Mithradates VI Eupator, Panticapaeum for a short period of time became the capital of the much more powerful and extensive Kingdom of Pontus.

The city was located at the intersection of trade routes between Europe. This caused it to grow rapidly; the city's main exports were salted fish. Panticapaeum minted its own coins. According to extant documents the Melek-Chesme river was navigable in Bosporan times, sea galleys were able to enter the river. A large portion of the city's population was ethnically ScythianSarmatian, as the large royal barrow at Kul-Oba testifies. In the 1st century AD Panticapaeum and the Kingdom of Bosporus suffered from Ostrogoth raids. Myrmekion was founded in the eastern part of 4 km NE of ancient Panticapaeum; the settlement was founded by Ionians in the first half of the 6th c. BC. From the 6th century the city was under the control of the Byzantine Empire. By order of Emperor Justinian I, a citadel named. Bospor was the centre of a bishopric, the diocese of Bosporus and developed under the influence of Greek Christianity. In 576, it withstood a siege by the Göktürks under Bokhan, aided by Anagai, the last khan of the Uturgurs.

In the 7th century, the TurkicKhazars took control of Bospor, the city was named Karcha from Turkic "karşı" meaning'opposite, facing.' The main local government official during Khazar times was the tudun. Christianity was a major religion in Kerch during the period of Khazar rule. Kerch's Church of St. John the Baptist was founded in 717; the "Church of the Apostles" existed during the late 8th and early 9th centuries, according to the "Life of the Apostle Andrew" by Epiphanius of Salamis. Following the fall of Khazaria to Kievan Rus' in the late 10th century, Kerch became the centre of a Khazar successor-state, its ruler, Georgius Tzul, was deposed by a Byzantine-Rus expedition in 1016. From the 10th century, the city was a Slavic settlement named Korchev, which belonged to the Tmutarakan principality. Kerch was a center of trade between Russia', Crimea and the Orient. In the 13th century, the Crimea including Korchev was invaded by Mongols. After Mongols, the city became the Genoese colony of Cerco in 1318 and served as a sea harbour, where townspeople worked at salt-works and fishery.

In 1475, city was passed to the Ottoman Empire. During the Turkish rule Kerch served as a slave-market, it suffered from raids of Zaporizhian Cossacks. In response to strengthening of Russian military forces in Azov area, the Turks built a fortress, named Yenikale, near Kerch on the shore of Kerch Strait; the fortress was completed by 1706. In 1771 the Imperial Russian Army approached Yenikale; the Turks decided to abandon the fortress, though reinforcements from the Ottoman Empire had arrived a few days earlier. By the Peace Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji in 1774, Kerch and Yenikale were ceded to Russia; as a result, the Turkish heritage has been completely wiped out. In 1790 Russian naval forces under the command of admiral Fyodor Ushakov defeated the Turkish fleet at the Battle of Kerch Strait; because of its location, from 1821 Kerch developed into an important fishing port. The state museum of ancient times and a number of educational institutions were opened in the city; the ironwork factory was built in 1846 based on a huge iron ore deposit found on Kerch Peninsula.

During the Crimean War the city was devastated by British forces in 1855. In the late 19th century and cement factories were built, tinned food and tobacco factories were established. By 1900, Kerch was connected to a railroad system, the fairway of Kerch Strait was deepened and widened. At this time, the population had reached 33,000. After suffering a decline during the First World War and the Russian Civil War, the city resumed its growth in the late 1920s, with the expansion of various industries, iron ore and metallurgy in particular, by 1939 its population had reached 104,500. On the Eastern Front of World War II from 1941 to 1945, Kerch was the site of heavy fighting between Red Army and Axis forces. After fierce fighting, the city was taken by the Germans in November 1941. On 31 December 1941 the 302nd Mountain Rifle Division recaptured the city following a naval landing operation at Kamysh Burun, to the south of the city, five days earlier. In 1942 the Germans occupied the city again.

The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 30 December 1922 to 26 December 1991. Nominally a union of multiple national Soviet republics, its government and economy were highly centralized. The country was a …

The Battle of Stalingrad was the largest confrontation of World War II, in which Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in Southern Russia. — Marked by fierce close quarters combat and direct assaults on …

The Barmaley Fountain, one of the symbols of Stalingrad, in 1943, right after the battle

German snipers at Voronezh, June 1942

Situation briefing near Stalingrad between a German company commander and a platoon leader

German infantry and a supporting StuG III assault gun during the battle

Operation Uranus was the codename of the Soviet 19–23 November 1942 strategic operation in World War II which led to the encirclement of the German Sixth Army, the Third and Fourth Romanian armies, and portions of the German Fourth Panzer …

The Battle of the Dnieper was a military campaign that took place in 1943 on the Eastern Front of World War II. It was one of the largest operations in World War II, involving almost 4,000,000 troops at a time stretched on a 1,400 kilometres long front. During its four-month duration, the …

The Battle of the Kamenets-Podolsky pocket was part of a greater Soviet "Proskurov-Chernovtsy Operation", whose key goal was to envelop the Wehrmacht's 1st Panzer Army of Army Group South. The envelopment occurred in March 1944 on the Eastern Front during the Second World War. — The …

Krasnodar is a city and the administrative center of Krasnodar Krai, Russia, located on the Kuban River, approximately 148 kilometers northeast of the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 774,234. According to the …

Mountain warfare refers to warfare in the mountains or similarly rough terrain. This type of warfare is also called Alpine warfare, after the Alps mountains. Mountain warfare is one of the most dangerous types of combat as it involves surviving not only combat with the enemy but also the extreme …

The T-26 tank was a Soviet light infantry tank used during many conflicts of the Interwar period and in World War II. It was a development of the British Vickers 6-Ton tank and was one of the most successful tank designs of the 1930s until its light armour became vulnerable to newer anti-tank guns …

The prototype of the TMM-1 light infantry tank during tests in early 1932

Maintenance of the T-26 mod. 1931 (with riveted hull and turrets). This tank was produced in the first half of 1932—the exhaust silencer is mounted with two clamps and the cover over the air outlet window. The Moscow Military District. Mid-1934.

Interior of T-26 mod. 1933 turret. Ammunition stowage is on the left side. The side observation device is visible, as is the revolver porthole, which is closed with a plug. Parola Tank Museum in Finland.

Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, 32 kilometers from …

The Donbass or Donbas is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine and southwestern Russia. The word "Donbass" is a portmanteau formed from Donets Basin (Ukrainian: Донецький басейн, translit. Donetskyj basejn; Russian: Донецкий бассейн …

The title Hero of the Soviet Union was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. — Overview — The award was established on April …

Prague is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, the 14th largest city in the European Union and the historical capital of Bohemia. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its …

Operation Winter Storm was a German offensive in World War II in which the German 4th Panzer Army unsuccessfully attempted to break the Soviet encirclement of the German 6th Army during the Battle of Stalingrad. — In late November 1942, the Red Army completed …

A German Tiger tank and knocked-out Soviet T-34 tank during the fighting in the southern Soviet Union.

Erich von Manstein was a German commander of the Wehrmacht, Nazi Germany's armed forces during the Second World War. He attained the rank of field marshal. — Born into an aristocratic Prussian family with a long history …

The Order of the Red Banner was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. It was the highest award of Soviet Russia, subsequently the …

The Order of the Red Banner

First variant Russian Order of the Red Banner on red cloth from 1918–1924

Marshal of the Soviet Union Vasily Blyukher wearing four first variant Orders of the Red Banner

The Vistula–Oder Offensive was a successful Red Army operation on the Eastern Front in the European Theatre of World War II in January 1945. It saw the fall of Kraków, Warsaw and Poznań. — The Red Army had built up their strength around a number of key bridgeheads, with two fronts commanded by …

A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or operation on its flags, uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible. — In European military tradition, military units may be acknowledged for their …

Hans Graf von Sponeck was a German general during World War II who was imprisoned for disobeying orders and later executed. — Pre-World War II career — Sponeck was born in 1888 in Düsseldorf. He received a military education and was commissioned as an officer in …

Memorial block in Bremen; removed in 2015 because of Sponeck's role in the Holocaust and other atrocities.

The Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive or Lvov-Sandomierz Strategic Offensive Operation was a major Red Army operation to force the German troops from Ukraine and Eastern Poland. Launched in mid-July 1944, the Red Army achieved its set …

The 51st Army was a field army of the Red Army that saw action against the Germans in World War II on both the southern and northern sectors of the front. The army participated in the Battle of the Kerch Peninsula between December 1941 and January 1942; it was destroyed in May 1942 with other …

The 44th Army of the Soviet Union's Red Army was an army-level command active during World War II. Initially part of the Transcaucasian Front, its main actions included the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran and the Kerch amphibious landings, before being transferred …

The 46th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the German Army during World War II that fought on the Eastern Front. — History — The 46th Infantry Division was formed in 1938 under the command of General Paul von Hase. It fought in the invasion of Poland …

The Kerch Peninsula is a major and prominent geographic peninsula located at the eastern end of the Crimean Peninsula. — Stretching towards the Taman peninsula, it is reminiscent of an land isthmus between its two neighboring seas, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. Most of the peninsula is located …

Vladislavovka is a junction railway station in Vladislavovka village in Kirovske Raion of Crimea, a territory recognized by a majority of countries as part of Ukraine, but de facto under control and administration of Russia. — Main …